Start me up: StartupBritain, the Startup100 and Smarta
Startups have really been in the news for the last few weeks. We had the David Cameron-endorsed launch of StartupBritain , then Smarta launched (after a year or two in development) its Business Builder online package , the UK and US governments have both announced " Startup Visa " programmes, and tonight the prizes will be awarded to the winners of the Telegraph's Startup 100 competition. Anyone would think there was something good about starting a new business. Governments love new businesses, because they feel like pure economic creation - new jobs, new investment, new products and services being offered in the economy, new tax revenues - and at no cost to anyone except the entrepreneur and their financial backers. Economists like them because they provide a positive externality - new ideas - which other people can benefit from as well as the entrepreneurs themselves. And customers like them because they offer new services which might not have been available before, ...